March 2014

On
March 28, gunmen sprayed the car of TV anchor and widely-respected analyst
Raza Rumi, a member of the Express Group of media organizations. He escaped
serious injury, but his driver, Mustafa, died. It was the fourth attack on the
Express Group in eight months, with four people dead. There has been no serious
police investigation into the events which took place in Karachi, Peshawar, and
now Lahore, where Rumi's car was "bathed in bullets on one of city's main
arteries," as The
Express Tribune put it in an editorial on Sunday.

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An access to information bill currently under consideration
in Ghana will do more harm than good, according to the Coalition on the Right
to Information in Ghana, which has called for a review of the proposed
legislation.

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Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made a series
of commitments to safeguard press freedom during a meeting with a CPJ
delegation last week. Among them was a pledge to speak out in support of media
freedom and against attacks on journalists, particularly in high-conflict areas
like Baluchistan.

In less than a week, Turkish voters will cast their ballots
in local elections widely seen as a test
of support for embattled Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has faced
growing questions about official corruption since a high-level probe first
became public in December. Although many observers believe Erdoğan will survive
the current
political crisis , the prime minister's increasingly autocratic
posturing has given rise to questions about his long-term political
viability.

"@RFI speak straight
up English, frenchie!! U crying? U started not to make sense," was one taunting
tweet from a certain prolific Twitter account belonging to "Richard Goldston." The
account, since deleted, belonging to a self-proclaimed "anti-imperialist,"
repeatedly antagonized Radio France Internationale journalist Sonia Rolley for her critical coverage of the deaths of
Rwandan government officials-turned-dissidents.

For the last decade, Pakistan has been one of the world's
most dangerous countries for the media. At least 46 journalists have been killed, 24 of them murdered for the
"crime" of covering the intelligence services, the Taliban, separatists in
Baluchistan, or the criminal underworld. The result is a legacy of
self-censorship and fear among the Pakistan press; critical stories go
unreported.

How would Robert Capa
and Joe Pulitzer have reacted to the law that came into force on March 15 in
their country of birth, Hungary? Let us guess that they would have been
stunned. A provision in the new Hungarian civil code forbids taking pictures
without the permission of everyone in the photograph.

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The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China
(Beijing) published the findings of its annual visa survey last week. The findings are grim but come as
no surprise following the Chinese government's showdown late last year with
members of the foreign press.

In a clear step backwards for press freedom in Burma, new
legislation will give the government censorship powers and the sole authority
to issue and revoke news publication licenses. While the legislation enshrines
into law broad press freedom guarantees, specific provisions will give the
Ministry of Information ultimate power over what news is permissible for
publication.

Last week, South
Sudanese Information Minister Michael Makuei warned reporters in the capital, Juba, not to interview the opposition
or face possible arrest or expulsion from the country. According to the
minister, a lawyer by profession, broadcast interviews with rebels by local
media are considered "hostile propaganda" and "in conflict with the law."

CPJ joined 26
other human rights and civil society groups on Wednesday in an open letter calling on the member states of the U.N. Human
Rights Council to renew the mandate of Ahmed Shaheed, the special rapporteur on
the situation of human rights in Iran. The public letter also urged the members
to participate in the March 17 Interactive Dialogue with the special rapporteur
and to express concern over the severe violations of human rights, including
anti-press abuses, in Iran.

Turkey's prime minister made headlines last week by threatening
to block Facebook in the country, but as recent events in Nigeria show, a more discreet
intervention can be effective in disrupting the free flow of information.

Today,
the U.N. Human Rights Committee begins its two-day review of Kyrgyzstan's
compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. By ratifying
the treaty in October 1994, Kyrgyz authorities pledged to enforce internationally
recognized provisions regarding the protection of human rights, and freedom of
expression, in their country.

Thursday, the official Bahrain News Agency announced the "final 30-day
countdown [to] the Formula One extravaganza" to take place the first week of
April. Every year the race acts as a lightning rod for criticism of the
Bahraini government, which seeks to use high-profile international events like
the F1 to gloss over human rights violations in the country.

EDITOR'S NOTE: February 15, 2014 marked one year since Omwa Ombara
arrived in the U.S. to seek political asylum after attempts on her life in
Kenya between May and December 2012. She fled her native land after being
contacted by International Criminal Court (ICC) investigators probing the
violence that followed the Kenyan elections in 2007-2008, in which more than
1,000 people were killed, according to news reports. Ombara
was never a witness, nor did she ever meet any ICC investigators, but the mere
suspicion that she was participating in the ICC process prompted a spate of
threats. She describes her own ordeal and the culture of silence that has
settled over most of the Kenyan media. CPJ's Journalist Assistance program
supported Ombara throughout her ordeal.

As India is set to hold elections next month, journalists covering
Narendra Modi, India's right-wing prime ministerial candidate, are reportedly coming
under increased pressure online and in the newsroom for shedding critical light
on him. Given these developments, free and independent reporting of the
campaign is in doubt--as is the future climate for press freedom should the
leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) become prime minister.

Last July, veteran Chinese
journalist Liu Jianfeng posted an announcement on the Chinese microblog Weibo,
confirming his intention to become an independent investigator and writer. In a
country where all media remains state-owned, Liu's plan was a bold one. He
promised to produce four to six independent, investigative stories in the
coming year, and to fund his costs by crowdsourcing. His financial target was
250,000 yuan (about US$40,000).

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Should journalists expect support and
protection from security agents when they risk their lives to report on
security operations? What if their coverage could potentially expose military
strategies? Why are journalists disparaged as unpatriotic when they show how
security operations fail?